HOUSE impeachment lead prosecutor Atty. Gerville “Jinky Bitrics” Luistro of Batangas and House prosecutor Joel Chua of Manila said Tuesday the prosecution panel is seeking faster ways to complete the marking of voluminous documentary evidence in the impeachment case against Vice President Sara Z. Duterte.
In a press conference at the House of Representatives, Luistro and Chua gave updates on the ongoing pre-trial conference, where the prosecution and defense are marking exhibits and threshing out procedural matters ahead of the July 6 trial date.
“As a matter of fact, we are on Day 3,” Luistro said.
She said the immediate concern is the volume of documentary exhibits, especially those tied to the confidential funds article.
“I wish to share that indeed the documents for confidential fund is really voluminous,” Luistro said.
Luistro said prosecutors have raised concern over whether the marking of exhibits can be finished by Thursday under the present setup.
She said the prosecution has already reached out to Senate officials to explore measures that may speed up the process.
Luistro said the prosecution wants to push through with the original July 6 timeline announced during the pre-trial conference, making faster evidence-marking necessary.
At present, Luistro said four teams are working on the marking of exhibits: one assigned to unexplained wealth and three assigned to confidential funds.
“Right now, there are four teams who are facilitating the marking of exhibits,” Luistro said.
Despite the four-team setup, she said both private prosecutors and public prosecutors monitoring the process have expressed uncertainty over whether the work can be finished by Thursday.
Chua said the prosecution is considering adding more teams and more dates, including days when the Senate would not normally hold work.
“Ngayon na una we are contemplating on adding more teams and additional dates,” Chua said.
He said Friday and Saturday are also being considered if the Senate will allow the parties to use those days for marking.
“Alam namin na Friday and Saturday walang pasok ang Senado pero because of these voluminous documents, kino-consider na rin namin na pati ang Friday at Saturday kung papayagan tayo na magamit na rin,” Chua said.
Luistro gave reporters a picture of the scale of the evidence.
She said the Department of Education payment-related documents number approximately 1,900, while those for the Office of the Vice President are more than 2,000.
Luistro said the process is taking longer because the defense is seeking its own marking on a separate set of documents, requiring comparison before marking.
“Magkakaroon ng comparison of document before marking, one for the prosecution and next for the defense,” Luistro said.
Aside from exhibit marking, Luistro said the prosecution team is still discussing several matters that may be raised before the impeachment court.
These include the possible disclosure of witnesses at least three days before presentation, the participation of both public and private prosecutors in presenting witnesses, and the possible opening of the BIR box at the soonest time, subject to court permission.
Asked whether these matters were included in the prosecution’s earlier submission, Luistro said the team is still finalizing its position.
“We will be finalizing our position regarding those matters and whatever will be the decision of the team, we might be filing a manifestation tomorrow,” Luistro said.
Luistro also said the prosecution continues to seek clearer descriptions from the defense on the purpose of its witnesses.
“Our comment to their purposes for which the witnesses are being presented are very general,” Luistro said.
Luistro said this is why the prosecution is asking for a more specific statement of purpose for witness presentation.
